[gap]

New version ready for download:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/lh8517...La_Plate_v7.7z

The list of changes is quite long today:

• I have split the tower base from the main lighthouse model: it is part of the rock now. This seemed more logical to me, since both rock and base lay at least partly underwater and they both need a StaticObject controller for collision detection and wave interaction.
  
  
• Folllowing Kendras' suggestion, the two sub-models composing the rock object (the unpainted concrete base and the rock itself) are now stored in the same library file as the lantern, the platform, etc, and and they are linked to Rock_LaPlate.dat through placement nodes (likewise stock harbors). I thought that storing those models in a library file is more rational, as we might use them for other lighthouses.
  
  
• Following the example provided by stock files, I have moved the StaticObject controller of Rock_LaPlate.dat to a dummy node which is also parent to the two placement nodes I mentioned above. This should fix the problem of collision with other units not being detected. Moreover, waves should "crash" against the base now, and spawn foam in the process.
  
  
• Also attached to the rock/base 'location', there is a SoundSource and AmbientVolume controller. Provided that I didn't make any mistake, you should hear a wave lapping sound when close to the lighthouse.
  
  
• Following MLF's suggestion, I have scaled down LaPlate's icon by an 8 factor, and the relative text by a 4 factor. I have created two versions of the tga. The 'default' version has texture size also scaled down to 128x128 pixels. Should this version look weird (i.e. icon having equal size as before, text double the size as before, both with heavily jagged edges) or crash the game (hopefully not), please replace the tga in the Terrain/Locations folder with the one provided in the 'spare icon' folder. The spare texture is stock sized (1,024 square pixels), and only the visible icon and text were resized.
  
  
• Since it did seem to do nothing, I have removed the Caustics controller from the lighthouse unit. I couldn't find any example in stock/GWX files of a land unit/terrain object using such a controller, and I doubt we will ever get it to work on our lighthouse.
  
  
• I have added a WaterReflection controller to the light/halo effect. It should cast reflection now.
  
  
• Submodel reflections should work now (thanks to MLF): I had placed their WaterReflection controller under reflect_* nodes with reflections model attached; this obviously works for units' reflections, but not for the reflection of equipments. Now I have correctly placed the reflection controllers of loghthouse 'equipments' under the same nodes as their visible models, and I have deleted the redundant reflect_* nodes with the attached reflection models.
  
  
• I have deleted the materials I had set for reflections from the main lighthouse file and from the lighthouse parts library file. These materials had their DX2/3 compression flag set to true. Now all the reflections use the same material as the visible models, with no in-memory texture compression. Higher memory usage but much better results. Thanks again to MLF for confirming my suspect!
  
  
• I have deleted the messy reflection model used for the main lighthouse unit. The reflect_LLH_LaPlate node was linked to the main model instead, and reflections are calculated based on it now. This tweak should make reflections to look better without increasing RAM memory usage, though it might require more work by the GPU, due to the higher complexity of the model used for reflections.
  
  
• All the MinVisDim and MaxVisDim reflection properties used by the lighthouse, by the library items and by the light effect, were set to 0.1 and 0.5 respectively. These settings were taken from the reflections of similar stock objects. Should you guys think that the settings proposed by MLF give better results than the ones above, feel free to tweaks those parameters and to inform me about your changes: I will update the files on my HD accordingly, and you wont have to redo the changes again and again after each update

Well, I think that's all from my part. I am looking forward to your feedback and I am ready to work on any still unfixed, or possibly newly introduced, bug. I thank you for your big efforts into the development of our first full-fledged lighthouse, and I hope you are enjoying the process as much as I do. As you know I am a SH5 guy lent to SHIII, but I am getting to love it as much as the other games of the series